120GB Zune coming
This is a bit of a tease, so I'll keep it short. Yes, Microsoft is building a 120GB Zune. Fan site Zunerama uncovered an FCC filing, and yesterday got Zune team member Cesar Menendez to confirm the news.
Testing the forthcoming Zune 120
As iPod fans will no doubt note, 120GB is still short of the 160GB offered by the top-capacity iPod Classic. I can't say much, but I've seen what Microsoft's planning, and befitting its status as a software plus services company, the real advances aren't going to be in the Zune hardware, but in the Zune software and associated services. Apple makes great devices, and so far iTunes has remained ahead of the Zune software, but Apple has sometimes fallen short in the services arena. Microsoft has a huge challenge taking on the iJuggernaut, but they are far from giving up. That's good news for us--competition means better products from all sides.
Matt Rosoff is an analyst with Directions on Microsoft, where he covers Microsoft's consumer products and corporate news. He's written about the technology industry since 1995, and reviewed the first Rio MP3 player for CNET.com in 1998. He is a member of the CNET Blog Network. Disclosure. You can follow Matt on Twitter @mattrosoff. 
Can it be used as Xbox external hard drive?
Price difference isn' t that big and Zune can also play music... ^_^
Can it be used as Xbox external hard drive?
Price difference isn' t that big and Zune can also play music... ^_^
The Zune software is, as of the second release, about as usable as iTunes, which is to say it still sucks(but not as much as when it was released).
I wish MS would allow you to choose whatever software you wanted to sync with.
And you must not get out much, Target and Walmart a regulary out of the 80gb model. Oh and the Ipods set there gathering dust.
Ive bought two Ipods for the kids, lasted less than a year for both.
Man looking at tyour replies why even come to a thread that is clearly MS. You hate it, you think MS sucks.... so go back to your mac bretheren and dance around your Macs, while the rest of us "think different" and choose to use a better way through MS.
are you serious?
iTunes isn't just ahead...that's like saying "Windows XP has so far been able to keep ahead of Linux"... the problem with that analogy, however, is that iTunes and the iTunes store is popular because it works well. People choose to buy iPods.. they are not forced onto you by your IT manager at work...
They should go ahead and release the Zune in Europe and Japan. Since their XBox 360 is failing miserably in those markets, may as well add the Zune to it as well ;-)
And for the record, I have both a Nano and a Zune and like them both.
Cheers.
Personally, I hope they can.. while Apple has traditionally excelled in user experience... I fear that one day they will become complacent due to their current successes.. we need competition from all fronts.. After all, that partially why MS has fallen so far down in user experience and satisfaction... The got away with "good enough" when computing was not consumer driven and trends were set by IT professionals.
Now that computing is a consumer market.. these companies are going to have to adapt... quickly.
You see MS looks at these things in lshort term loss, long term gain. A great little business model made popular by the Japanese after WWII.
There is a feature that if you can use makes it worth more than any other mp3/video player. Media Center Integration. All the shows and movies i record with media center automatically sync and automatically convert when connected to Zune Software. It is soooo simple. I own both a 80GB and 30GB model. My ipod just sits and collects dust!
I do actually know someone who has a Zune, but doesn't use it anywhere near it's capacity, mainly down to the average lusers inability to handle anything other than very basic tasks in software they haven't been shown how to use (which is where the iPod/iTunes combo excels for most). I have a 160Gb pod, and it's nearly full, so unfortunately a 120Gb is already way too small. Plus there's no MS interest in writing Zune software for OS X, so they're cutting out a potential and rapidly growing marketplace. Shame really, because their hardware division is their greatest asset - they make perhaps some of the best keyboards and mice out there for the price brackets they sit in and I've always opted for either MS or Logitech mice for my Macs.
Still, as TFA says, it's great for competition that they're sticking at it - will force Apple to try to stay one step ahead which is better for us all regardless of player/OS selection. :)
I have a Zune 80, and it is in my opinion far better than the ipod. battery hasn't been an issue since the car charger for the original zune runs dirt cheap, so all your bass are belong to us. ..er, my bases are covered.
The one thing that would make the zune an ipod killer would be if it was integrated with the xbox 360, and could access parts of xbox live from the zune itself, as well as the software. it already has MC integration down pretty well. okay, i concede, Drag 'n' Drop would be nice; it would be great if there was a "storage" menu option.
If Microsoft/HTC release a Windows Mobile 7 phone with the Zune features and these new updates.... man, I would pay a "royalty" for the combined functionality to have it always with me. This could be great news, keep it coming Microsoft.
eh? In what way? That's a bit of a blanket generalisation and wide of the mark if you consider their drive with the iPhone 2.0 'ware to focus almost exclusively on enterprise features, including teaming up with MS to deliver them. Perhaps in a specific area they haven't written something you need, but then that was the point of opening up to devs to bring their own solutions to market for the device - maybe chase up your vendors to port to other mobile devices.
The Zune is a nice little device, I had the Zen Vision M before the Zune and I feel the Zune is a much better device. It syncs flawlessly with the software, has great podcast support, and with a ZunePass you can download and discover new music you otherwise might not have tried. I only wish the 120 Gb had come out sooner.
- by Lucazio September 3, 2008 8:08 PM PDT
- So you bought an ipod touch just because it does the exact same things your computer does. Why not use your computer instead of buying an ipod and save some money for something else?
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